June, 1909.] 



523 



Fibres. 



(b) The annual turnover in cotton 

 alone now amounts to nearly £250,000, 

 as follows :— 



1905 ... ... £ 49,890 



1006 ... ... 124,109 



1907 ... ... 247,630 



(c) A large business is now growing 

 up in marketing and insuring cotton, 

 supplying stores, machinery, etc., for 

 planters and others on which the Asso- 

 ciation earns a commission. The total 

 commissions earned in 1907 amounted 

 to £1,753 as compared with £628 in 

 1906. 



(d) The permanent staff now amounts 

 to 50, viz., 13 in England and 37 in West 

 Africa. 



It will, therefore, be seen that the 

 work of the Association has grown so 

 enormously, that it has been absolutely 

 necessary to organise the manage- 

 ment on a proper commercial basis. 

 The Chairman (Mr. Hutton) was willing 

 to continue the superintendence for 

 a further period, but was unable to 

 accept the sole reponsibility of manage- 

 ment. The Council therefore decided to 

 appoint an Executive Committee of five 

 altogether, with Mr. Hutton as Chair- 

 man. Messrs. Bell, Crapper, Howarth 

 and Zochonis kindly consented to act, 

 and were duly appointed. They will 

 each be paid £100 annually for their 

 services, 



As will be seen from the Balance Sheet, 

 the nett balance of the income and 

 expenditure account shows a debit of 

 £10,497 18s. 3d., as compared with £12,416 

 6s. 2d. in 1906, showing an improvement 

 of £1,918 7s. lid. These figures do not, 

 however, convey a correct impression, 

 for, owing to the accounts covering a 

 period of sixteen months, the whole 

 of the expenditure is included for more 

 than a year's working, whereas only one 

 crop has actually been marketed, and 

 the profits on buying and ginning are 

 no larger than they would have been 

 if the accounts had only covered 

 twelve months' working, 

 ""in view of the fact that the operations 

 of the Association are now being placed 

 on a commercial basis, the Council are 

 desirous of rendering the accounts so as 

 to show clearly the loss or profit made in 

 each twelve months, and they have there- 

 fore decided to wite off this year all 

 doubtful assets. The whole of the build- 

 ings and machinery taken over by the 

 Ginning Company have been written 

 down to £64,043 4s. 8d., being the 

 amount at which it has been agreed 

 they should be transferred, and this 

 sum now appeals in the Balance Sheet 

 as a debt owing to the Association by 



the Company. The Council have also 

 decided to write off the sum of £8,010 

 0s.9d., being the balance brought for- 

 ward of the plantation expenditure 

 incurred in 1905. A further sum of 

 £2,676 3s. 3d. has been written off, 

 consisting of sundry small buildings, 

 tools, implements, etc., not taken over 

 by the Ginning Company, and the 

 balance of £2,703 12s. 5d. after closing 

 up the Sierra Leone account has also 

 been written off. There has also been 

 a further sum of £1,000 reserved to 

 cover any possible loss on advances 

 made to planters and others. 



After these deductions the total deficit 

 on the working of the sixteen months 

 amounts to £27,218 16s. lld„ as com- 

 pared with £25,538 12s. 9d. in 1906, but, 

 as previously pointed out the compari- 

 son is misleading. 



Attached hereto are the Balance 

 Sheet, a Report on the work in the 

 various colonies, and statistics of cotton 

 grown in various parts of the Empire. 

 From these it will be seen that the total 

 production of cotton under the auspices 

 of the Association has increased from 

 less than 2,000 bales in 1903 to 26,000 

 bales in 1907, and has reached a total 

 value of £400,000. The Council consider 

 that the shareholders can congratulate 

 themselves on the steady progress made, 

 and they are convinced that, provided 

 ample capital is obtained, the Associ- 

 ation will shortly become a profit-earn- 

 ing body, and so be establhised on the 

 only possible permanent basis. 



PROGRESS OF THE SEA ISLAND 

 COTTON INDUSTRY IN THE WEST 

 INDIES. 



By Thomas Thornton, a.r.c.s. 



(From the West Indian Bulletin, Vol, 

 IX., No. 3, 1908.) 



The history of the Sea Island Cotton 

 industry in the West Indies is of very 

 great interest because of the rapid pro- 

 gress that it has made. The improve- 

 ment in the methods of cultivation that 

 have been adopted, as the acreage ex- 

 tended, has also been most marked. 



In six years cotton has grown to be- 

 come a very important industry in many 

 of the West India Islands, and has been 

 the means of considerably improving the 

 financial position of many of these 

 Colonies. 



Cotton was first planted on a com- 

 mercial scale in the year 1902, when 

 about 400 acres were put into cultiva- 

 tion. In 19C3, this area was extended to 



